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Memorial Day Weekend

As we again approach another Memorial Day weekend. The staff would like to pause and acknowledge and thank those who gave the last full measure of devotion to ensure there are places on this earth where thoughts can be freely discussed and where liberty would persevere.

Have a beer, or a tea, or whatever you prefer, raise your glass and please join us in our thanks.

"Suffering lies not with inequality, but with dependence." -Voltaire

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” -G.K. Chesterton

Re: Memorial Day Weekend

May God bless their souls and may we never err to be painstakingly diligent in remembering them as well as we can. This Memorial Day I will be visiting my uncle Ray and numerous other servicemen from my family, changing the flowers and taking family photographs there at their graves as is our yearly family ritual. It is paramount that we remember that these were all human beings who did this for us and that we realize that in the fullest sense of the word.

I can still remember very well my uncle Ray Sanders describing Normandy, Bastogne, Weirmacht, and other heated areas of conflict to me, because in my family we find it important to write down and preserve our own history as well as our role in larger history. As I helped to comb through and edit his war memoirs there were some universal values that struck me about it all. One thing I learned about as well as I think I can, but clearly in too inadequate of a way to ever fully appreciate it, was that those men who went to war with him could never possibly be prepared enough, mature enough to handle what happened.

In his mind war made a child out of all of them, because as he saw those unfortunate souls it didn't feel to him that what he saw was men. What he saw was young boys, deprived of their dignity, deprived of everything they could have been. And regardless of nationality they all cried "Mother/Mater", an undeniable basic cry of humanity itself standing in clear opposition to the rampant dehumanization involved in war.

Another thing I would have scarcely understood had he not explained it was that the combat itself was not at all the most terrible part of the whole affair. It was trying to sleep at night during the quieter, but still distinctly unquiet periods afterwards, when you were subjected to things uttered and sounds that can only be described as noises, by hundreds, even thousands of anguished people that I would never repeat in any detail here or anywhere else, out of respect for my uncle, and the privacy and dignity of those he described who suffered those experiences. This is an part of his life that took a piece of him with it, and I can never describe it because it is impossible for me to understand.

There is no adequate accolade or string of words to honor those men and women who were, for the most part, buried on foreign soil. Their graves in Normandy and elsewhere are hallowed ground, hallowed not by an inscription, memorial, or tombstone but by complete sacrifice, sanctified by semper fidelis. Whatever your convictions I personally hope that you will give some serious thought in appreciation of these people, as my family and myself will be praying and thinking about those people close to us who served and were fortunate enough to return home, and especially my less fortunate loved ones who won't receive their own well deserved visit this year because they are buried in Normandy, Bastogne, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima.

Honoring the names of John Sanders, Henry Parham, Ray Sanders, Paul Stinnett, Gene Clifton, Clyde Clifton, Max Jatund, Bob Posey, Ed Sanders, Jack Sanders, and Virgil Stinnett. We love you all and hold you directly responsible for the liberties we now enjoy, for the liberties that others in distant lands can also enjoy. You cannot hold a higher place in our minds, and it is our understanding that no American president, congressman, or judge has achieved individually or even combined to contribute a fuller measure than just a single veteran who paid the ultimate price. The sheer magnitude of what you were deprived of, your very existence, is a greater contribution than any by a Washington, Jefferson, Hay, Seward, Lincoln, or Roosevelt. We will see you at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and until then we are confident that at the feet of Jesus Christ you are well taken care of. And to Ray Sanders, I miss you especially and oftentimes it seems that you might be in the room before I remember where you are. I can still hear your tone deaf singing today.

Last edited by Lukecash12; May 22nd, 2015 at 10:06 PM.

There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance.Nahj ul-Balāgha by Ali bin Abu-Talib

Re: Memorial Day Weekend

Let us raise our cups and cheer
All the defending blue angels now in parade march in the heavens;
Not just those amazing jet jockeys but all
Who pledged their lives, sacred honor and fortunes
And those now on active duty guarding the flame of Liberty and Freedom.